This might be unpopular but I think overall Eppler has done well

[Pancake Bear]

1 hour ago, Duren, Duren said:

Prioritizing Rendon over starting pitching tells you that Eppler thinks that great hitting and defense will win more games over the long haul than adding an elite starter.

Where in the world did you get that idea? Where is this elite starter who Eppler prioritized Rendon over? 

[Bronson]

2 hours ago, tennischmp said:

I don't think Eppler prioritized Rendon over Cole. If he did he should be fired on the spot. Pitching wins championships and considering the state of the Angel's pitching, Cole would have had a 10x greater impact on the team than Rendon will. 

Rendon is a 6-7 WAR player. Cole is a 6-7 WAR player. Your 10x statement is ludicrous.

[tennischmp]

1 hour ago, Bronson said:

Rendon is a 6-7 WAR player. Cole is a 6-7 WAR player. Your 10x statement is ludicrous.

Your WAR goes out the window once the playoffs come around

[zenmaster]

Bottom line is not many people want to come to play for the Angels and that's the main problem we need to fix. I also don't think we chose Rendon over Cole. Cole chose the Yankees over us, just like others chose other teams over us. 

[nate]

I have trouble holding any draft choices against the team.  It is easy to say the Angels haven't drafted well, but when you look, they were in draft purgatory.  It is probably the worst part about the last decade, they weren't big enough losers to warrant a top 5 draft pick, and they weren't good enough to make the playoffs.  I personally prefer for the Angels to only draft HS players, especially pitchers.  I know there is more risk, but so many college players dominate the lower minors and then flame out or end up being 4A players like Cron.

[eligrba]

14 hours ago, calscuf said:

I don’t see how an opinion that 90% of the fanboys (who will turn on him eventually) have can be considered unpopular.

Ok....Select one GM who you believe outperformed Eppler in the past 4 yrs....

[Stradling]

3 hours ago, tennischmp said:

Your WAR goes out the window once the playoffs come around

So the chances of getting to the playoffs stays the same. The chance Of winning in the playoffs falls off ten fold, seems legit. 

[Stradling]

2 hours ago, zenmaster said:

Bottom line is not many people want to come to play for the Angels and that's the main problem we need to fix. I also don't think we chose Rendon over Cole. Cole chose the Yankees over us, just like others chose other teams over us. 

Really most players chose geography the last couple of years or the very last dollar.  Corbin, Wheeler, Ramos, all chose geography.  Cole, Keuchel and Ryu chose money.  The Cole one hurt because of the narrative that he wanted to play back home.  
Trout, Rendon, Upton and Ohtani all chose the Angels.

[Blarg]

3 hours ago, tennischmp said:

Your WAR goes out the window once the playoffs come around

You are correct. For both pitchers and fielders and it comes down to individual performances. You managed to invalidate your own argument. 

[Wisconsin27]

I continue to have faith in Eppler as I have really appreciated his big-picture approach to running the organization.

For the life of me, I can't understand what those that are stating that we should have spent money on FA pitching so as to avoid having to trade our prospects for pitching are thinking.  While I wholeheartedly agree with the premise, as I believe Eppler would as well, given hindsight, what reliable plan are those of this mindsight thinking would have been viable?

Cole, Wheeler, Madbum, and Stras were never coming here.  Furthermore, given their contracts, many of us here would have passed on them anyway.

Ryu/Keuchel were available for some time.  While they were, multiple threads were posted on the negative effects to signing either of them.  Knowing what they received in compensation, are those that are arguing we should have spent on FA pitching essentially saying Eppler made a mistake by not offering them more than what they received?  If so, I would agree that signing them may have helped us improve this year's club and perhaps bought him a little more time.  But 2-3 years from now I believe the same people would be holding him accountable for signing either of those two pitchers to the very contract they would endorse now.  

So what SP FA did Eppler miss out on or make a mistake by not signing that would have put us in a better position this year and in the future?

Again, I appreciate Eppler's big-picture approach.  It just sucks that Mike has had to endure the rebuild.

 

 

 

 

[Jay]

I won't defend or make excuses for Eppler.

The GM reports up through the team president to the owner. All that matters is if those people are satisfied.

 

[Torridd]

19 hours ago, nate said:

Not saying he is perfect, his biggest mistakes were hiring Ausmus and signing Cozart.

When you consider though how big of a mess the entire organization was when he took over, I think he has done well building the team up to be winners in the future.

Consider that he had the worst farm system, a team full of bloated salaries and no pitching depth.  He also had a stubborn manager that had clearly lost pace with modern baseball.  Consider that he wasn't drawn into huge bidding wars and overpays for pitchers that allowed the Angels to come into this offseason with a good amount of cash to spend, unfortunately the pitching was still way overpriced but I am happy with the direction of the team and also pleased that he hasn't emptied out the system with reactionary trades.

I really hope Eppler gets a couple more years but I am worried that if this season doesn't go well he is gone.

I agree with this for the most part, but I think he messed up this offseason in not getting a noted pitcher to date. Hopefully, he can swing something. I really like what he's done with the farm, but I don't know if I necessarily want him to be re-signed. We'll never know who's calling the shots with these free agency pickups but as the face behind the deals I'm not happy with his lack of /paltry pitching pickups.

[Torridd]

18 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Well overall he has done well, I agree. Obviously people only see the results without considering the big picture. 

That said, it's kind of absurd that he was given a larger payroll going into the off-season with a dire need for pitching that even Helen Keller could see, and....we got a big bat.

Now I love the Rendon signing and it significantly improves the offense. I also like the Teheran signing. But he's basically taken a bottom 5 pitching rotation and made them bottom 10.

A lot of this was seemingly out of his control, particularly with the Wheeler, Strasburg and Cole situations. But Keuchel or Ryu would have been huge additions to the rotation, and passing up guys like Gibson and Pineda early on could prove to be big mistakes. 

My main point is this was meant to be a cornerstone off-season for not only Eppler, but the entire organization. This was the beginning of a new era of Angels baseball. And so far, we've barely addressed our most crucial need.

We'll see how the rest of the off-season plays out, and of course the season itself. But despite landing one of the top FA's I can't shake the feeling that this winter has been a disappointment. I'll remain hopeful overall that the in-house roster will significantly improve over 2019, and any additions will be icing on the cake. 

I totally agree with this.

[Bronson]

4 hours ago, tennischmp said:

Your WAR goes out the window once the playoffs come around

Did you not watch Rendon is the playoffs this year?

[nate]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

You are correct. For both pitchers and fielders and it comes down to individual performances. You managed to invalidate your own argument. 

They should come up with a stat that evaluates individual performance.

[Bruce Nye]

On 12/10/2019 at 11:01 PM, Lou said:

reading the batshit crazy reactions after missing out on Cole far outweighs the benefit I would have ever received from watching him pitch

Excellent post, Doc.

[Chuck]

13 minutes ago, Bruce Nye said:

Excellent post, Doc.

@Lou even! 

[Lou]

that made no sense 

[ettin]

7 hours ago, tennischmp said:

Your WAR goes out the window once the playoffs come around

 

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

You are correct. For both pitchers and fielders and it comes down to individual performances. You managed to invalidate your own argument. 

 

As @Bronson said above, "Did you not watch Rendon in the playoffs this year?"

•  

[angelinkc]

I think he has been solid but not great. We have made major strides this off season as an organization. I don't think any of the top SPs really wanted to be here and we resisted the temptation to overpay for next year's CJ Wilson. With so many holes, the team needs two years to become a serious contender. We did improve the club enough to contend for the playoffs and more pitching options will be available near the deadline. He does need to get a catcher like yesterday. 

[beatlesrule]

4 hours ago, eligrba said:

Ok....Select one GM who you believe outperformed Eppler in the past 4 yrs....

Jeff Luhnow.

[Pancake Bear]

6 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

Jeff Luhnow.

Isn’t he that guy who just got banned from baseball forever? Oh wait, that’s still a few months away. Darn Eppler, if only he as willing to commit lifetime ban-worthy offenses to improve the team. What a schmuck. 

[eligrba]

13 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

Jeff Luhnow.

Luhnow was hired in 2011.  Eppler was hired in 2015.  Eppler's record since his hiring is 306-342.  Luhnow's record is 657-639.  However, looking at Luhnow's first 4 seasons comparing his start with Eppler's, his record was 262-386.  In 2011, Luhnow inherited a farm system that was in the bottom 5.  In 2015, we all know the situation of the farm system Eppler inherited.  In 2011, Luhnow inherited a payroll ranked at #18 in MLB.  In 2015 Eppler inherited a payroll ranked at #7.

Luhnow could be a good comp but we need to wait a bit longer for a more accurate analysis.

[nate]

Luhnow got a bunch of top 5 draft picks to play with too.

[beatlesrule]

1 minute ago, eligrba said:

Luhnow was hired in 2011.  Eppler was hired in 2015.  Eppler's record since his hiring is 306-342.  Luhnow's record is 657-639.  However, looking at Luhnow's first 4 seasons comparing his start with Eppler's, his record was 262-386.  In 2011, Luhnow inherited a farm system that was in the bottom 5.  In 2015, we all know the situation of the farm system Eppler inherited.  In 2011, Luhnow inherited a payroll ranked at #18 in MLB.  In 2015 Eppler inherited a payroll ranked at #7.

Luhnow could be a good comp but we need to wait a bit longer for a more accurate analysis.

You asked for last 4 years. I gave you one example. I have more if you want.